Not so Alone
by Knuckles316
Summary: Flashwing is one of the newer Skylanders and since the second defeat of Kaos has felt rather alone and out of place.
1. Flying High

_It feels so good to fly again_ Flashwing thought to herself.

After joining forces with the giants and defeating Kaos again, the Skylands were safe and now she could finally enjoy flying. While they were under attack, none of the Skylanders dared flying for fear they would be attacked by surprise from below. But now she could spend all day gliding in the sun and she was doing just that.

While slowly circling above the Skylands, Flashwing started remembering her first day on the Skylands: her first day anywhere, really.

She doesn't remember how it happened, she just remembers waking up for the first time in a crater. She was trying to get her bearings and figure out what exactly was happening and where she was when she saw a stone dragon approach the edge of the crater. It was dark and she was already confused and he startled her so naturally she attacked and actually sent him flying off the cliff she had crashed on.

Later, she made friends with Bash and apologized for her hasty attack. He actually became quite smitten with her and quickly forgave her and they became good friends. She knew he had stronger feelings but she was still too new and too lost to worry about feelings or relationships. After a while of living with the Skylanders and fighting against Kaos, she became accustomed to life on Skylands and when she did finally have time for romantic feelings, they were for a dragon, but it was for Cynder, not Bash. He was great, and he was a dragon made of the earth, much like the crystals that made up portions of her wings and tail, but Cynder, like her, seemed to be lost and outcast and it made it that much easier for Flashwing to relate with her. They quickly became best friends and after defeating Kaos and giving themselves much less to worry about, they became more than just friends.

Spyro was quite jealous at first, and actually Cynder did feel for him, Flashwing knew, but she was so embarrassed of her past that she never felt comfortable around him and Flashwing was her second choice. Sometimes this hurt Flashwing, but most times she was just happy to have someone in her life that cared for her and who made her feel not so lost and confused. She still didn't really know how she came to be or why. Bash said it was his wish that made the meteor containing her crash to the earth, but there had to be more to it than that. She couldn't simply just be the side effect of a thought in Bash's head; she had to have a purpose.

As these thoughts poured through Flashwing's head, her gliding picked up speed and soon she was soaring through the air. Her lazy circles became a Jetstream out into the sky. Without even realizing it she soared past the usual boundaries of Skylands and was now gliding over ancient mabu lands and Arkeyan ruins.

Then suddenly it happened.

Flashwing realized she was daydreaming all of a sudden as she was being pulled toward a strange portal. She tried to fly away but it was too late and before she knew it, she got sucked in and all of a sudden she once again felt scared and confused and alone.


	2. A New Land and a New Friend

Flashwing wakes up in a strange forest. The atmosphere is eerie and unsettling. She becomes even more uneasy when she looks up to see a very tight, gnarled and constricting canopy. Once again, she finds herself unable to fly. She seems to be, once again, lost and alone and this time she has a strange feeling that the other Skylanders won't be around to help her with this fight.

Flashwing wandered around for a while, not really sure where she was going when finally she heard a voice; a female voice a small distance away. As she got closer she couldn't quite make out words but realized that the voice was not talking, but chanting. As she almost reached the clearing where she thought the voice was coming from, the chant got louder and then ended with a shout. Afterward, a large puff of green smoke exploded in the clearing. Flashwing was startled and quickly turned and went the opposite direction. She had fought many enemies before, but did not feel the need to go looking for them when they could be avoided.

She continued to wander down this new trail and was hopeful that she would at least be out in the open again soon because the trail seemed to be getting a little wider and well-used. She hoped she would be in the open before encountering whoever used this trail though, so she would at least have the option of flight if she couldn't fight her way out of a confrontation. However, that hope was dashed away quickly as she heard a rustling in the bushes beside her. She quickly lowered her body and brought her crystal-tipped tail up, ready to attack. Out of those bushes leapt a strange growling creature that appeared to be formed of the wood and braches of the dark forest itself. Its body appeared to be wooden with bits of thorns and mud covered its body and the face had some leafy coverings around two glowing green eyes. She launched a beam from her tail and the creature jumped to the side, only to be hit by a second rapid beam that she fired in his direction.

It stumbled but did not fall and she realized this fight wouldn't be a simple one. She prepared to launch more attacks when suddenly two more of these creatures jumped from the vegetation behind her. Now she faced a pack of these creatures and they had her surrounded and were closing in. She stayed crouched and ready to attack the first, which she presumed to be the leader. As they closed in though, she quickly brought up her hard crystal wings and spun herself around, attacking in a whirlwind fashion, knocking back her strange foes. As they all stumbled back to the ground, Flashwing stopped her spin and took off at a run down the trail, now hoping more than ever that it was leading her out of these woods.

Luckily, her hopes were realized before long and as she soon saw the light of day start to break through the trees and although they were starting to close in on her, she knew she would be able to fly before they caught her.

She got to the end of the trail where the forest opened into a large green field and she immediately spread her sings and soared into the sky. Immediately behind her the wooden beasts pounced from the forest, but they all missed the chance to grab her.

She laughed smugly to herself, but then looked on with curiosity as she noticed that instead of retreat back into the forest, the creatures continued through the field. She eyed the area and saw that ahead of them was a pink and yellow creature running desperately away from them. She immediately flew as fast as she could after the beasts because she knew it was her fault that had spotted this new target.

It wasn't long before she caught up to her predators-turned-prey and before they could turn around to notice she was in their pursuit, she dropped to the ground immediately behind them and fired a rapid succession of beams from her tail. Several of the beams hit each creature and one of the three was knocked from his run and tumbled into a large nearby rock, causing him to splinter apart. The other two turned on her quickly and started to charge her. She waited for them to get close and then once again drew up her wings and attacked with a vortex of blows. She struck another of the beasts down, tearing him apart with her hard crystalline wings, but the other managed to duck under her blows and knocked her to the ground. She landed hard and it quickly dove in and bit down hard on one of her legs. She hit the beast hard with her wing to get the creature off her and then sent a beam from her tail directly into its face, causing its wooden head to shatter apart.

She stopped and stayed still for a moment, breathing heavily after the battle. She then remembers the creature they were chasing and looked up to see it standing a safe distance away as if it was curious but scared. Flashwing called out a greeting and started to walk toward the stranger before stumbling over her injured leg and falling to the ground. The combination of this sudden pain and her lack of energy after the fight took their toll and when she hit the ground, she blacked out.

Flashwing awoke with a start in a strange cottage reminding her slightly of the shacks the Mabu live in. Her first thought was to run out but she remembered her injured foot and worried that she wouldn't be able to run anywhere. She grew much more nervous when she spotted the person she helped early slowly walking toward her. It was a yellow-furred creature with four legs ending in hooves. It had a large mane of pink hair spilling from its head and a long pink tail cascading from its rear. It also had a strange marking that resembled a trio of butterflies on its hind flank.

"My name is Fluttershy. You're OK now. I brought you to my house and I'll take care of you." The stranger said.

Her voice was very soft and kind. She talked quiet and with compassion and Flashwing very quickly felt much more at ease.

"Where in Skylands am I?" Flashwing asked.

"Skylands?" Fluttershy responded with a confused look.

"Yes, Skylands. How far are we from the Core of Light? I have to find the other Skylanders and let them know I am safe. Cynder and Bash will be so worried when they realize I'm gone."

Flashwing surprised herself with that last statement. She hadn't really consciously thought before about how much her new friends in the Skylands cared for her. She spent so much time thinking about her being lost and stuck in this new land that she didn't put much thought into the friends she had found. She suddenly thought a lot about them when she heard Fluttershy say-

"We aren't in the Skylands. We are in Equestria. You're at my house outside Ponyville. Well, it's actually just a cottage I stay in while caring for all the animals. My real house is up in Cloudsdale but I prefer to be down here."

Flashwing just looked wide-eyed at Fluttershy, not knowing how to respond or what was happening.

Fluttershy soon noticed Flashwing's confusion. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You must be confused and I'm just rambling. Please, what can I do to help? You just saved me from those Timberwolves so I wanted to make sure you were comfortable. Let me see your foot again, I did clean it and wrap it. I hope it isn't hurting you as much."

"I –" Flashwing started "I'm not really sure where Ponyville is or how I got here. I need to get back to Skylands. That's my home. I just found it and was getting used to it and now I'm lost and stuck somewhere new again." Flashwing started to tear up as she thought about the prospect of having to start her life over again. "I don't even know where I truly belong and now I lost the only home I had."

Her tears turned to sobs and Fluttershy quickly moved closer to comfort her.

"It will be Ok" Fluttershy told her after hugging her and putting a soft leg around her "I will help you get home. I promise."

Flashwing didn't know why, but she trusted Fluttershy and felt assured at her words. She managed to say 'Thank you' before her busy mind and still recovering body got the best of her and she fell asleep sobbing under the close watch of her new friend.


	3. Dashing Through the Clouds

After a couple days with Fluttershy, Flashwing has started to feel as good as new. And today, her leg was feeling much better and she was up and walking around on her own.

"Fluttershy, why don't we go fly?" Flashwing said excitedly.

"Oh- Um… Are you sure you feel well enough to do that?" Fluttershy asked in response.

"Yeah, I feel much better now. Come on, I've been dying to get in the sky. Plus, maybe I can see something that will help me find my way back to Skylands. There has to be something that led me here to Equestria."

"Well OK" Fluttershy said sheepishly "but let's not go too high. Or too fast."

Flashwing almost dragged Fluttershy out the door and as soon as they were on the grass Flashwing was in the air. Fluttershy hesitated for a moment but then shook her head, gritted her teeth and followed her new friend into the air. Flashwing started to pick up speed and dart around to exercise her wings but when she saw Fluttershy struggling to keep up, she slowed her pace to a lazier glide and was happy when the Pegasus caught up.

"Sorry" Flashwing said "I will try to keep a slower pace. I'm just so happy to fly again."

"It's not your fault. Rainbow Dash likes to fly too and I usually end up being too slow for her as well. I seem to hold people back." Fluttershy dropped her head and spoke very quietly.

"Don't worry." Flashwing said reassuringly as she grabbed Fluttershy's leg with her own "I don't mind going slow for you." Fluttershy jerked a little out of shock at the touch but looked up and smiled at Flashwing. "So is Rainbow Dash one of your friends?"

"Oh yes, we've been friends for a long time. She's a Pegasus like me but she isn't afraid to fly. She's one of the best flyers ever!" Fluttershy responded. She talked more excitedly when talking about her friend. Her pride in her was very evident.

"I _am _the best flyer ever!" came a voice from behind a nearby cloud. Flashwing and Fluttershy looked over in time to see a blue head pop out from behind the cloud. "Fluttershy who are you-" She started until she saw Flashwing on the far side of her yellow friend "A dragon!"

The blue Pegasus charged through the air with a burst of speed and Flashwing was barely able to dodge out of the way. "You stay away from Fluttershy!" the pony threatened.

"No, Rainbow, it's OK. She's my friend." Fluttershy said quietly but insistently.

"Your friend, huh? I know you aren't scared of dragons anymore but I haven't seen any around here before." Rainbow said while never taking her gaze off Flashwing.

"I've never been here before" Flashwing responded, not waiting for Fluttershy to defend her any further. "I got lost and ended up here somehow and Fluttershy has been helping me out after I got attacked by timberwolves."

"Timberwolves? Well you aren't much of a dragon if a few timberwolves were able to attack you." Rainbow brazenly responded. "Fluttershy, is that why we haven't seen you in a few days because you've been hanging out with this dragon?"

"Well she got hurt and needed my help so I-" Fluttershy started.

Rainbow quickly cut her off and kept talking as though she wasn't really expecting a response to her question "So what's your name?"

"Flashwing"

"And why are you flying around here? Are you planning on attacking Ponyville? Cloudsdale? Princess Celestia and Twilight will stop you!"

"I'm not here to attack anything." Flashwing said calmly even though these accusations were starting to bother her. She didn't do anything wrong and didn't deserve this. She was just trying to spend some time with her new friend and find her way back home. "I just wanted to fly for a bit after being cooped up in that cabin."

"Oh, I'm so sorry you didn't like my cabin." Fluttershy quickly offered up an un-needed apology. "I should have known that you wanted to be outside."

"No, Fluttershy, that's not what I-" Flashwing started until Rainbow Dash once again interrupted.

"So you like to fly? Are you any good?"

"Well I'm flying now so I know how…" Flashwing answered, not really sure of the real question.

"I mean, how fast can you fly?"

"I don't know; I've never seen how fast I could go."

"Well then let's find out! I know I'll beat you, but we can see if maybe you can keep up enough to _watch_ me beat you."

Flashwing was really getting tired of these insults and was not going to be talked to like this. "Fine, we'll see who can fly the fastest. Let's find a good place to race where the clouds are more clear and we can see where we're going."

Rainbow snorted a laugh and quickly flew into the clouds. During her brief absence Flashwing turned to Fluttershy and said "I didn't mean anything was wrong with your cabin. I loved staying there with you. I just enjoy flying and am happy to be outside." Fluttershy blushed a bit and put her head down but smiled with the acknowledgement so Flashwing felt better. Before long the cloud directly in front of Flashwing burst apart and she could see that most of the sky before her was now clear of clouds.

"We can race right here." Rainbow declared "The first one down to that grey cloud far in the distance and then back is the fastest. The last one is you."

Flashwing ignored this comment and got ready to soar.

"Fluttershy, you'll start us off!" Rainbow shouted to her.

"Oh, um… Ready." She said in her usual quiet manner.

"Louder Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted to her. Flashwing really hated how rude she was to someone that was supposed to be her friend. _Why would Fluttershy be so proud of her friend who was so rude?_ She thought to herself.

"Set" Fluttershy said in a voice that wasn't noticeably any louder.

Rainbow sighed at her friend and then just shouted "GO!" and bolted quickly away from their starting point.

Flashwing was surprised for a second but then soared off after her. After all the time she spent in Skylands not being able to fly and then the past few days at Fluttershy's she was very tired of not using her wings so now she intended to go all out. She zipped through the sky and suddenly a small cloud dropped right in front of her and she heard a chuckle from the far side of it. She quickly brought up her tail and zapped a small beam at the cloud and it blew apart as a surprised Rainbow Dash exclaimed "what was that?" Flashwing didn't respond and instead blew past her.

Rainbow started to close in after short while and shouted up to Flashwing "Pretty good, but I haven't even started to fly yet." As rainbow got closer, a break in the clouds above them let a bright sunlight down and it shone a rainbow color through the crystal wings of Flashwing and dazzled and slightly blinded her. Rainbow show her head and banked to one side and went to pass the dragon. "Nice try, but you can't blind me and cheat your way ahead."

"I wasn't blinding anyone!" Flashwing rebutted, not sure what Rainbow was talking about "And you were the one who cheated when you pushed that cloud down in front of me."

"I don't have to cheat, I'll beat you anyway!" Rainbow boasted and then once again soared ahead of Flashwing. They had reached the checkpoint now and Rainbow quickly zipped around it and headed back toward the start and Fluttershy. Flashwing grunted softly in determination and put her head down and quickly ruffled her wings and then took off right after her.

Flashwing gained speed quickly and the blue pony ahead of her looked back once and to her surprise saw Flashwing only a foot from her flank. Rainbow sneered before looking forward again and then pushing herself so much that the air around her exploded with brilliant rainbow-colored light and she bolted ahead with a burst of speed. Flashwing was dazed for a moment but then regained herself and hurried off behind her.

Flashwing was flying as fast as she could now and was almost right behind the Pegasus. She could still see hints of rainbow colored light trailing from her rival as she closed in. They were getting close to where they started and Flashwing quickly dodged around this pony and right as they passed Fluttershy and their starting point she pulled ahead of her.

Flashwing slowed to a stop after winning but Rainbow crashed right into her and drove her to the ground. "You cheated!" Rainbow yelled "Nopony is faster than me!"

Flashwing fluttered her wings open and knocked Rainbow back, "I did not cheat!"

Rainbow stomped the ground and snorted, lowered her head as if to attack.

Flashwing didn't want to hurt Fluttershy's friend but was not going to stand for the way she was being treated. She brought up her tail and shot a small beam at the ground just in front of Rainbow's feet. The dirt kicked up and Rainbow shouted in shock as she jumped back into the air after the attack. "That's it, I'm getting Twilight. She knows how to handle a dragon." And without another word the blue Pegasus sped off.

"Oh dear" Fluttershy said as she softly landed next to Flashwing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt your friend. But she was being so mean to you and then she attacked me." Flashwing said. She kind of surprised herself at how bad she felt at the thought of upsetting her new friend. _I guess I didn't realize how much I cared for you._ Flashwing thought about Fluttershy.

"No, I understand." Fluttershy said. She looked as if she was going to say something else but then decided not to. Flashwing stepped forward and was going to try to apologize further but then stumbled a little as she put her weight on her recently healed leg. "Oh! Are you hurt?" Fluttershy exclaimed worriedly. "You must have hurt it when you crashed. Let's go inside, I can take care of it." She reached out to grab Flashwing's leg and as she did, Flashwing moved in and kissed Fluttershy softly.

Quickly she realized what she was doing and stopped and when she moved back, Fluttershy was blushing very deeply and standing there almost frozen, not saying a word. _Oh, that was a mistake._ Flashwing thought to herself. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry. I-" Flashwing started. She didn't know what to say next but it wouldn't have mattered because from behind her she heard "That's her!" and turned to see Rainbow approaching with a purple unicorn approaching beside her and someone else trailing slightly behind them that she couldn't make out. _I just want to go home_. Flashwing thought to herself before steeling herself for whatever she about to have to endure.


	4. The Standoff

"This is who attacked you?" the purple pony said to Rainbow. This one wasn't like Fluttershy or Rainbow, though. She had no wings, but instead had a horn on her head.

"Yeah! I was minding my own business, checking on Fluttershy and then challenged her to a race to try and be friendly and she lost and got mad and attacked me." Rainbow chimed in.

"That's not what happened!" Flashwing yelled back, trying to defend herself to this new pony.

"Tell her Fluttershy!" Rainbow said with a grin. _Clearly depending on her friend to lie for her _Flashwing thought to herself.

"Umm…" Fluttershy hesitated to reply.

In her hesitation, the figure behind Rainbow and the new pony finally caught up and entered the commotion. "Twilight-" the figure gasped "do you always have to run so fast?" The figure walked out from behind the purple pony, apparently named Twilight, and then Flashwing saw that it was a baby dragon. She was young, herself, but not nearly as young as him. "You could have at least-" he started but then stopped mid-sentence when he saw Flashwing.

Ignoring his interruption, Twilight spoke again. "Who are you, dragon?" She asked, clearly angry. "Why did you attack my friends?"

"Rainbow attached me first. And I would never attack Fluttershy!" Flashwing answered.

"I don't believe you" Twilight responded. She moved forward and Flashwing raised her tail and spread her wings, ready to defend herself.

"Wait!" the small dragon yelled and jumped between Twilight and Flashwing. "Let her explain!"

"Spike, move!" Twilight commanded. Clearly she was the leader of this group and was used to them listening to her.

"No, you haven't listened to her. You don't even know her. I believe her." Spike said. Flashwing was amazed. This small dragon who didn't even know her was standing up to his own friends to defend her.

For a moment, none of the three ponies said anything. Flashwing wasn't sure what to say but took this chance anyway to explain herself. "I don't know where I am or why I'm here. I was back in Skylands just flying around after finally defeating Khaos and suddenly I was here in the woods and then I was attacked by timberwolves. Then they saw Fluttershy and I helped fight them off. I hurt my leg and she helped me get better. Rainbow was being mean to her and then forced me to race her and got mad and attacked me when I beat her. I don't want to hurt anyone and I just want to go home but if you attack me or Fluttershy I will fight you!" Flashwing stood her ground. She didn't do anything wrong and she was tired of being treated like she had.

"No one would attack Fluttershy" Twilight responded. "She's our friend. And Rainbow Dash?" Twilight turned to the blue pony who was fidgeting about nervously in the air. "I thought you said she lost in the race and attacked you?"

"Well she should have lost!" the pony quickly rebutted "She cheated!"

Twilight sighed and stepped toward Flashwing. Flashwing flared up her wings a bit; expecting an attack, but the pony took another fearless step toward her and extended her hoof. "I'm sorry about this. Rainbow can be a bit rash sometimes. I'm not sure about this Skylands you talk about. I've never read anything about it in my books, but it is nice to meet you. If Fluttershy trusts you, then you are a friend."

"Yeah," Flashwing started but then decided not to finish the thought. She looked at Spike who was now staring at her with big eyes. She knew the look well; it was the same one Bash often gave her. _This is not what I need right now _she thought to herself. She then looked over at Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry, everyone." Fluttershy started with a sad look of guilt.

"What for?" Flashwing asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Twilight looked at her for a second, but then looked at Fluttershy and added "nothing is your fault Fluttershy. It's just startling to have someone new here; especially a dragon." Twilight then looked over at Rainbow and said "You need to go take care of the weather over at Sweet Apple Acres Farm. Applejack will be very upset if a storm comes in before she can buck all the apples out of the trees."

"Yeah, fine…" Rainbow replied dejectedly. She pouted for a second and gave a mean look to Flashwing before she bolted off through the sky.

"I have to go search the library for a book about Skylands. Maybe I can ask Princess Celestia if she has a book-" Twilight rambled to herself as she started to wander away.

"So, umm…" Spike started to speak "how long will you be here?" he asked shyly.

Before Flashwing could answer, Spike started to float and had a strange light aura around him. "Come on, Spike!" Twilight shouted from the distance.

"Bye, Flashwing" he said with a silly grin as he floated behind Twilight.

"How is he doing that?" Flashwing asked Fluttershy.

"He isn't doing anything. She's using her magic."

"Who, Twilight? She has magic?" Flashwing said with confusion. "If she's a magic element then she is like Spyro."

"Yeah, she's the element of magic. I'm the element of kindness."

"What?" Flashwing said, now looking at Fluttershy again instead of the small floating dragon in the distance. "A kindness element? I've never heard of that element. But you are a very kind pony."

"Oh, thank you." Fluttershy said looking very embarrassed suddenly.

Seeing her looking so bashful Flashwing suddenly remember her kissing Fluttershy earlier. "Oh, Fluttershy!" she exclaimed, startling her friend. "I'm so sorry about earlier!"

"Oh, umm…" Fluttershy started, amazingly looking even more shy than before "no, it's OK. It's just…"

Flashwing didn't want to make her friend any more uncomfortable so she quickly changed to subject "my leg is hurting a little. Can we go inside and you can look at it again?"

Fluttershy perked up at the chance to help someone "Yes, I'm so sorry. I should have known you weren't healed all the way yet!" She rushed over and started helping Flashwing inside.

_She's so nice but I really need to get home._ Flashwing thought to herself. _I miss you, Cynder, and you too, Bash._ She sighed and tried to amble slightly to put on a show for Fluttershy.


End file.
